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Introduction to Linux - A Hands on Guide

This guide was created as an overview of the Linux Operating System, geared toward new users as an exploration tour and getting started guide, with exercises at the end of each chapter.
For more advanced trainees it can be a desktop reference, and a collection of the base knowledge needed to proceed with system and network administration. This book contains many real life examples derived from the author's experience as a Linux system and network administrator, trainer and consultant. They hope these examples will help you to get a better understanding of the Linux system and that you feel encouraged to try out things on your own.

I am not entirely new to the linux world, I have been "tinkering" with it for a while now but I have just recently gotten into using it alot and I am currently making the transition from windows to linux on all of my computers. So far I have had very little trouble except with my laptop. I have a Gateway M305CRV laptop. Specs are as follows :
Intel P4 2.2ghz
512 mb DDR PC2100
30 gig HD
Intel 852GM chipset with integrated LAN, Audio, and Video cards.
Integrated Actiontec Wireless 802.11G LAN card
CD Rom drive
5 in 1 card reader

I am running Suse Linux 9.2 Professional. I managed to configure ndiswrapper and get my wireless network adapter runnign fairly easily. The audio card was detected and configured on boot with little help from me. The integrated intel LAN card was detected and loaded properly out of the box as well. My only problem is I cannot get my resolution to go any higher than 800x600 or 640x480. Upon the first loading of Suse, the video card was detected as an Intel 855GM video card and the monitor was set to the basic Vesa 800x600 setting. I downloaded the newest set of linux drivers for the 852/855 video cards from the Intel website and installed and configured them. I followed the directions precisely and when i was finished installing them i had extra features enabled but was still unable to increase my resolution beyond 800x600. I tried updating X to the newer 6.8.2 but this did not help out either. After updating X, i reinstalled the intel drivers and reconfigured everything all over again and but still the problem remains. I began editing my XF86Config file trying to resolve the issue but have had no success. I have a second desktop computer running Suse 9.2 as well and i compard the two different XF86Config files and found only relatively minor differences. My LCD monitor on my laptop is capable of running 1024x768 resolution at 32 bits, but so far the best i have been able to obtain is 800x600 at 24 bits. If anyone has any insight into this i would be extremely grateful for any help what-so-ever. Thank you in advance for anyone responding.

thank you for the response but from what i understand and from experimenting around with it the xorg.conf file gets its settings from the xf86config file. everytime i have made a change in the xf86config file it has been replicated to the xorg.conf file on trhe next reboot. i appreciate the input though.

The bios does not have setting to increase the video memory on the card. I checked that out already. When i had windows on this laptop i was able to go into the video driver properties and adjust anywhere from 8mb to 128mb of memory for the card, but that was in windows and not the bios. i found an article somewhere describing my problem and offering a patch that was supposed to correct this. the article said it had something to do with the video memory like you said, that linux did not interface with the bios the way windows did and didnt tell it how much memory to allot to the video card. i checked my logs and fars as i could tell the card was givne plenty of memory on boot but i tried the patch anyway and applied at boot time to ensure the video card had 128mb of memory but this still did not help any. Thank you for your time and effort i appreciate your help in this.